Gujarati New Year 2026

For most of India, Kartika Shukla Pratipada — the day after the night of Diwali — is simply "the day after Diwali." For Gujarat, it is the beginning of an entirely new year. Called Bestu Varas (literally "best day" in Gujarati) or Nutan Varsh (new year), this is the first day of the Vikram Samvat calendar year as followed in the Gujarati tradition. The streets of Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Rajkot erupt with the greeting Saal Mubarak ("Happy New Year" in Gujarati) exchanged between families, business partners, neighbors, and friends. The day carries the combined energy of post-Diwali festivity and the fresh optimism of a new beginning.

Central to the Gujarati New Year celebration is the Chopda Puja — the worship of the business account books. In the Gujarati mercantile tradition, which has produced some of the world's most successful business communities, the transition from one year to the next is as much a commercial event as a religious one. Merchants open fresh account books (chopda or bahi-khata), write the Sanskrit invocation Shubh Labh ("auspicious profit") on the first page, draw a swastika, and invoke Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha. The family priest performs the puja, and the first entries in the new book are made with ceremony. This practice, while rooted in the pre-digital era, continues today — even businesses that maintain computerized accounts often perform a symbolic Chopda Puja to honor the tradition.

The festive calendar around Bestu Varas extends for five days: Dhanteras, Kali Chaudash (Narak Chaturdashi), Diwali, Bestu Varas (New Year), and Bhai Bij (the day of the brother-sister bond). But the countdown does not end there — five days after Bestu Varas comes Labh Pancham, considered by many Gujaratis to be even more auspicious than New Year's Day itself for starting new commercial ventures, opening new factories, signing contracts, or inaugurating offices. Together, Bestu Varas and Labh Pancham form the twin pillars of the Gujarati business new year, celebrated with equal fervor in Gujarati communities across the world — from London to Singapore to New Jersey.